1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to configuring a cable modem. More particularly, the present invention relates to providing security and feature enhancements at a cable network head end for more effectively configuring a cable modem in a cable network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional cable modems are initialized in a cable network after communicating with a cable network head end as well as other address, provisioning, and configuration servers. However, conventional initialization and provisioning sequences for cable modems include limited functionality for a head end as well as limited security. The limited security in the cable modem initialization sequence has prompted opportunistic subscribers to configure cable modems with configuration profiles not assigned to the particular cable modems. In one example, opportunistic subscribers initialize cable modems with quality of service profiles that allow higher bandwidth usage than the quality of service profile assigned.
Because security during cable modem initialization is limited, subscribers have been able to configure cable modems with different configuration profiles while remaining undetected in many instances.
Consequently, it is desirable to provide improved techniques for secure cable modem initialization and/or configuration in a cable network while allowing an enhanced feature and capability set for a cable network head end.